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e-Builder University

Were you prepared? ENR’s take on Construction Management during a pandemic.

Too many capital program owners are still paper dependent on their construction management processes and workflows. In addition to the paper needed to kick off processes, the majority of project information is tracked and measured on spreadsheets that are stored on local servers or on individual desktops which are not accessible from home.  Contractors are slightly ahead of the owner curve but many are still lacking a cloud infrastructure that provides a seamless move to working remotely during this unprecedented time.  

ENR published an article, Cloud Infrastructure Keeps Firms Afloat During Coronavirus Pandemic, which paints a fairly grim picture for those laggards in the industry.  Moving to a cloud infrastructure does not happen overnight.  In fact, it takes most months to years to accomplish this.

For those that I previously called laggards, this will hopefully be the impetus that creates a technology revolution that the construction industry so desperately needs. Technology allows businesses to move forward and adapt. We have been in close contact with our customers to check up on them and listen to their stories of adaptation during the past couple of weeks and the stories of resilience and innovation below are heartwarming:

  • One of our Higher Education clients is leveraging our program management software to analyze the project outlook for all of their active projects. They spoke with other institutions and comparatively, they are getting the answers they need to plan for an uncertain future in minutes instead of days to weeks that the other institutions are experiencing.  The quicker they can react, the better chance they have to save projects and jobs.
  • Another client from a port authority told us that they are using the work from home time to drive greater adoption and training of cloud-based systems.  The work may be slowing down or stopping for some but the time spent on training will result in increased efficiencies and better project outcomes when work recommences.
  • Others, like a handful of our health facility customers, are also doubling down on their cloud infrastructure and integrations.  If they can create greater efficiencies in their processes now, then they are better positioned to make up for the losses they are incurring now.

            As is indicated in the ENR article, those behind the times are not likely to find a quick fix during the current situation. However, the question remains, what are you going to do to plan for the next unexpected disruption?